Maybe the Mayans did have it right. If we can’t go to a movie theater, shopping mall, house of worship or a school without being shot and killed, maybe it is the end of the world. The end of the world as we know it.

Karen Snyder, Aurora

This letter was published in the Dec. 21 edition.

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We have always had murders…….ever since Cain first killed his own brother.

We have always had murders……just as we have always had wars, robberies, thefts, assaults, and various forms of sexual immorality.

We have always had the Jack the Rippers,, the Jesse James, the Billy the Kids, and the Butch Cassidys and the Sundance Kids……..and the St Valentine Day Massacres……although “todays” “versions” make the criminal exploits of those “old-time” “career criminals” seem rather……non-note-worthy.

It does seem that……as with the destruction of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, and various diseases…….everything “bad” seems to be occurring both with greater frequency and greater intensity.

Should “we” be at all surprised? Jesus Himself noted that those things would be like “birth pangs”…..as what He called the “end times” draws closer.

We should EXPECT that EVERYTHING WE SEE that is “bad”……become both WORSE and More Frequent…….as time goes on……as the “end times” gets closer…….as “the world”……”forsakes”…….God.

The “fact” seems to be that……we have so many “criminals” who…..out-do…..almost anything any 19th Century or Early 20th Century Outlaw or Gangster did……that we can hardly remember the names of the horrible criminals of the last couple of decades.

How many people remember Susan Smith? And how many people remember the names of all the many more Susan Smiths that have been arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for doing almost the same thing in the past 5 years? And there have been a lot of them. A LOT.

It is NOT “the end of the world as we know it”…..YET. But that time…..IS COMING.

And it is coming “like a thief in the night”……at a time when most people won’t expect it……and sooner than most people realize.

#2 Comment By primafacie On December 20, 2012 @ 8:35 pm

Of course, that’s a gross overstatement so far from reality that responding is an exercise in the pointless. Which means I regret the last 20 seconds of my life…

#3 Comment By peterpi On December 20, 2012 @ 9:15 pm

The very earliest Christians were convinced the end would be during their lifetimes. It’s why St. Paul thought everybody should be celibate: Why bother with marriage and reproduction? He reluctantly decided marriage was better than sinning when he concluded the end was not as near as he thought.
The Book of Revelation was written by people who thought the end was near in response to the Emperor Nero and other early Christian-oppressing Roman Empire leaders.
In the year 1000, religious fervor increased dramatically, as millions of Europeans felt that all those zeroes surely meant “the end is near”. 01/01/1001 then dawned without incident.
During the European religious wars of the 16th and 17th Centuries, prophets were calling out the “end is near”. Surely, Christians using brutal means of torturing and killing other Christians Was A Sign. The 18th Century then dawned without incident.
The Seventh Day Adventists and several other American Christian denominations got their start when their founder-prophets proclaimed The End Was Near — and the followers then had to deal with continuing, boring, humdrum reality.
I have never figured out why some Christians can’t heed Jesus of Nazareth’s words that we will never be able to learn the date and hour of the End, so quit trying and live your life.
There are easier explanations of the CT killings, like a severely mentally-ill kid with a gun in his hands. I guess that’s too mundane compared to “It’s a Sign of the End Times! Repent and Convert!”

#4 Comment By peterpi On December 20, 2012 @ 9:38 pm

Not to mention that all those Mayan fanatics will immediately forget their fanaticism on December 22, will forget their fascination with Mexican native peoples, and focus instead on the next History Channel craze. Nostradamus is always popular.
12/31/00 became 01/01/01 without incident. The same thing will happen with the Mayan calendar cycles.

#5 Comment By Jahnboi On December 20, 2012 @ 9:41 pm

I think you should change your screen name to Robla-bla-bla-brtf777.

#6 Comment By peterpi On December 20, 2012 @ 9:58 pm

Are you addressing me, or Robtf?

#7 Comment By Jahnboi On December 20, 2012 @ 11:13 pm

Ha- Not you Peter. Laugh with me as I reference Rick Perry on that one.

#8 Comment By Happy Jack On December 21, 2012 @ 5:33 am

Maybe the Mayans in that time saw no hope for the human race to last this long. Maybe we fooled them.

#9 Comment By primafacie On December 21, 2012 @ 8:02 am

On the outside chance they were right, I’ve been putting off an uncomfortable call to the MasterCard people.

#10 Comment By peterpi On December 21, 2012 @ 10:35 am

You can always hope there’s a Y2.013k computer bug, LOL

#11 Comment By GregoryR On December 23, 2012 @ 2:57 pm

I predict that people will continue to incorrectly prognosticate the end of the world, not to mention the weather, till the History Channel is nothing but Doomsday programs thus eliminating horrible programs featuring pawn brokers, and guys that root around in garbage piles.